I'm Back

I've been in grad school reclusion for the past 2 months without realizing it. Last weekend I traveled outside Durham for the first time since starting school, and tonight I went to Chapel Hill for an Andrew Bird concert (see video below). The experiences were as eye-opening as going to a foreign country... "you mean there's life outside of Durham?" Yes, I had forgotten this. No more.

Some quick observations:
- I like Chapel Hill a lot. For a college town, it's pretty classy.
- I need 8 hours of sleep a night. 7.5 might cut it, but my brainpower decreases severely in a downward stepwise manner below 7.5 hours.
- Klondike ice cream bars are a delicious treat
- Should I be going to more "corporate presentations" that recruiters have? I've gone to one so far - for the FBI's management program (which was actually really cool). However, I choose not to go to things like the Johnson & Johnson networking night or the "Beyond CPG" symposium. Should I? The herd definitely moves toward these things, but I prefer to travel elsewhere. It's actually quite satisfying to see my classmates in their smart business casual schmoozing at the various networking nights while I'm wearing a jeans and t-shirt. Of course, they will have jobs in 2 years, and I will not. A willing tradeoff on my part.
- I camped out for Duke basketball tickets (basically involved 48 hours of no sleep) and ended up getting tickets to half of the home games, and I will not campout again next year. My aforementioned affinity for sleep is too powerful.
- There are three taco vans (one is a converted school bus) that roam my neighborhood at late hours. Excellent.
- Two phenomenal filmmakers: Gus Van Sant and Steven Soderbergh. I recently watched Soderbergh's latest, The Girlfriend Experience. I need to give it another watch, but my first take was a truly brilliant movie. Much of the movie chronicles - in a deadpan, honest way - inane conversations that we have with one another. I was blown away by how familiar these conversations were to me, while at the same time understood that Soderbergh was lambasting these very conversations. Make sense? Just go see the movie... it's worth it.

I'm the student team leader of a trip of 30 students and one professor to SE Asia (Singapore, Vietnam, and Bangkok) for 12 days in March. Lots of responsibility, but it's exactly what I want to be doing.

That's it for now. Klondike bar, Andrew Bird, then 8 hours of sleep. Life should always be so perfect.